Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(4):6406-6411 www.ijcem.com /ISSN:1940-5901/IJCEM0003921 Original Article Vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms and lung cancer risk Junli Fan 1, Weiguo Zhang 1, Caipeng Lei 1, Bin Qiao 1, Qin Liu 1, Qiang Chen 1, Hongduo Jiao 1, Leizhen Jiang 2, Shuo Cui 3, Jianmin Chen 1 1 Department of Oncology Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, Henan, China; 2 Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, Henan, China; 3 Microsurgical Ward Section, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, Henan, China Received November 17, 2014; Accepted November 19, 2014; Epub April 15, 2015; Published April 30, 2015 Abstract: The VEGF polymorphisms has been implicated in the susceptibility to lung cancer, but the results are not conclusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between the VEGF polymorphisms and the risk of lung cancer by meta-analysis. We searched PubMed, Embase, CNKI and Wanfang databases. A total of 7 case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis. We found that VEGF rs833061 polymorphism showed no significant association with lung cancer risk. Subgroup analysis on race suggested that CC genotype was significantly associated with lung cancer risk in Asian population. We found that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism showed significant association with lung cancer risk. Subgroup analysis on race showed that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism increased lung cancer risk in Asians. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that the VEGF rs699947 is associated with increased risk of lung cancer. Keywords: Lung cancer, VEGF, meta-analysis Introduction Lung cancer is a major public health problem all over the world. In 2014, there were an estimated 224,210 new cases with lung and bronchus cancer in the United States, in addition, the estimated deaths from lung cancer were 159,260 [1]. On top of that, more than 80% of lung cancer cases are of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [2] and it was estimated 51% of patients present with advanced disease at the time of diagnosis [3]. Although much progress had been made in optimizing the treatment of NSCLC (including multidisciplinary therapy, targeted therapy and etc), the 5-year overall survival rate remained about 15% of all stages [1]. Therefore it is important to search for new therapies that will improve the current overall treatment in battling against NSCLC. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key regulatory factor in angiogenesis and vascular permeability in both physiological and pathological states [4]. Along with fibroblast growth factors, transforming growth factors, tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-8, and various angiopoietins, VEGFs are potent inducers of the angiogenic switch. This switch is characterized by a sequence of steps beginning with vessel dilation and the detachment of pericytes from preexisting vessels followed by angiogenic sprouting and the proliferation of endothelial cells, new vessel formation, and recruitment of perivascular cells [5]. Several studies have reported the association between the VEGF polymorphisms with lung cancer risk [6-12], but the results were inconclusive. Some studies reported that the polymorphisms were associated with increased risk of lung cancer, while the others reported different results. Meta-analysis is a useful method for investigating the risk factors of genetic diseases, because it uses a quantitative approach to combine the results from different studies with the same topic, and can provide more reliable conclusions. Thus, we performed this meta-analysis.
Figure 1. Flow of study identification, inclusion, and exclusion. Methods Publication search and inclusion A systematic literature search in Pubmed database, Embase database, Wanfang database and CNKI database were carried out to identify studies involving the association between lung cancer risk and VEGF polymorphisms on Oct 9th, 2014. The search terms were as follows: lung cancer or lung neoplasms or lung tumor in combination with polymorphism or variant or mutation and in combination with VEGF or vascular endothelial growth factor. Inclusion criteria were defined as follows: (a) studies evaluated the association between VEGF and lung cancer risk; (b) the design had to be a case-control study based on unrelated individuals; (c) sufficient data (genotype distributions for cases and controls) was available to estimate an odds ratio (OR) with its 95% CI; (d) genotype distributions in control group should be consistent with HWE. Exclusion criteria were defined as follows: (a) duplicate of previous publication; (b) based on incomplete data; (c) meta-analyses, letters, reviews, or editorial articles. Results Studies characteristics Data extraction Two reviewers collected the data and reached a consensus on all items. The following items were extracted from each study if available: first author, year of publication, country of origin, ethnicity, sample size, and genotype number in cases and controls. Statistical analysis The strength of the association between the VEGF polymorphisms and the risk of lung cancer was measured by OR and 95% CI. OR was analyzed by fixed-effects model or random-effects model according to the results of heterogeneity. Heterogeneity was evaluated by an X 2 based Q statistic and was considered statistically significant when P<0.10. When the P value was >0.10, the pooled OR was calculated by the fixed effects model, otherwise, the random-effects model was used. The significance of the pooled OR was determined by the Z-test and was considered statistically when the P value was less than 0.05. To evaluate the ethnicity-specific effects, subgroup analyses by ethnic groups were performed. Publication bias was analyzed by Begg s funnel plots and Egger s test. Sensitivity analysis was performed by sequentially excluding individual study to assess the stability of the results. All statistical tests were performed using the Revman 4.2 and STATA 10.0 software. The flow chart in Figure 1 summarizes this literature review process. A total of 7 case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis [6-12]. One study reported two polymorphisms. There were 5 studies of Asian population and 2 studies of Caucasian population. Four studies 6407 Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(4):6406-6411
Table 1. Characteristics of included studies Study Country Race Polymorphism Case Control de Mello 2013 [6] Portugal Caucasian rs833061, rs699947 144 144 Lee 2005 [7] Korea Asian rs833061 432 432 Sun 2013 [8] China Asian rs833061 126 160 Zhai 2008 [9] USA Caucasian rs833061 1900 1458 Deng 2014 [10] China Asian rs699947 65 110 Li 2012 [11] China Asian rs699947 150 150 Liang 2009 [12] China Asian rs699947 171 172 Table 2. Genotype distribution of cases and controls rs833061 assessed the association between VEGF, rs699947 polymorphism and lung cancer risk, respectively. The characteristics of each casecontrol study are listed in Table 1. The genotype numbers were showed in Table 2. Results of meta-analysis Case We found that VEGF rs833061 polymorphism showed no significant association with lung cancer risk (T vs. C: OR=1.07, 95% CI 0.91-1.26, P<0.41; TT vs. CC: OR=1.08, 95% CI 0.91-1.27, P=0.40; TT vs. TC: OR=1.01, 95% CI 0.79-1.29, P=0.95; (TT+TC) vs. CC: OR=1.08, 95% CI 0.93-1.24, P=0.99; TT vs. (TC+CC): OR=1.05, 95% CI 0.82-1.35, P=0.67). Subgroup analysis on race suggested that CC genotype was significantly associated with lung cancer risk in Asian population (TT vs. CC: OR=1.69, 95% CI 1.08-2.63, P=0.02). We found that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism showed significant association with lung cancer risk (A vs. C: OR=1.11, 95% CI 0.92-1.35, P=0.27; AA vs. CC: OR=1.76, 95% CI 1.10-2.81, P=0.02; AA vs. AC: OR=2.17, 95% CI 0.78-6.01, P=0.14; (AA+AC) Control CC CT TT CC CT TT de Mello 2013 28 79 37 31 72 41 Lee 2005 18 184 228 27 168 237 Sun 2013 22 43 61 38 69 53 Zhai 2008 439 922 539 342 694 422 rs699947 CC CA AA CC CA AA de Mello 2013 43 75 26 44 73 27 Deng 2014 26 33 6 62 41 7 Li 2012 93 45 12 98 49 3 Liang 2009 129 28 14 112 56 4 After sequentially excluding each case-control study, statistically similar results were obtained, suggesting the stability of this meta-analysis (data not shown). The Egger s test was performed to provide statistical evi- dence of publication bias. The results indicated a lack of publication bias (P=0.56 and P=0.12). Discussion vs. CC: OR=1.06, 95% CI 0.68-1.65, P=0.80; AA vs. (AC+CC): OR=1.94, 95% CI 0.89-4.25, P= 0.10). Subgroup analysis on race showed that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism increased lung cancer risk in Asians (A vs. C: OR=1.20, 95% CI 0.84-1.72, P=0.32; AA vs. CC: OR=3.00, 95% CI 1.51-5.95, P=0.002; AA vs. AC: OR=3.15, 95% CI 1.00-9.91, P=0.05; AA vs. (AC+CC): OR=2.92, 95% CI 1.51-5.65, P= 0.001). The results were listed in the Table 3. In this meta-analysis study, we analyzed VEGF polymorphisms for lung cancer susceptibility. Our results suggested that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism was significantly associated with the risk of lung cancer, suggesting that VEGF rs699947 polymorphism might be involved in pathogenesis of lung cancer. We demonstrated that VEGF rs833061 polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in Asians. Patients carrying those genotypes had a higher risk for lung cancer than those carrying the other genotypes. However, further studies are warranted to elucidate how these genotypes contribute to lung cancer. A growing number of polymorphisms have been found to be associated with NSCLC susceptibility. For example, a meta-analysis of published studies suggested that the MPO polymorphisms may contribute to the susceptibility of lung cancer [13]. A case-control study has 6408 Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(4):6406-6411
Table 3. Results of this meta-analysis T vs. C TT vs. CC TT vs. TC TT+TC vs. CC TT vs. TC+CC OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 rs833061 Overall 1.07 (0.91, 1.26) 0.41 54% 1.08 (0.91, 1.27) 0.40 41% 1.01 (0.79, 1.29) 0.95 54% 1.08 (0.93, 1.24) 0.99 0% 1.05 (0.82, 1.35) 0.67 60% Asian 1.14 (0.95, 1.37) 0.15 79% 1.69 (1.08, 2.63) 0.02 0% 1.23 (0.60, 2.54) 0.58 83% 1.50 (0.98, 2.29) 0.06 0% 1.29 (0.64, 2.59) 0.48 85% Caucasian 0.99 (0.91, 1.09) 0.91 0% 1.00 (0.83, 1.20) 0.96 0% 0.95 (0.81, 1.11) 0.51 0% 1.03 (0.88, 1.20) 0.73 0% 0.96 (0.83, 1.11) 0.62 0% A vs. C AA vs. CC AA vs. AC (AA+AC) vs.cc AA vs. (AC+CC) OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 OR (95% CI) P I 2 rs699947 Overall 1.11 (0.92, 1.35) 0.27 41% 1.76 (1.10, 2.81) 0.02 45% 2.17 (0.78, 6.01) 0.14 73% 1.06 (0.68, 1.65) 0.8 67% 1.94 (0.89, 4.25) 0.10 59% Asian 1.20 (0.84, 1.72) 0.32 55% 3.00 (1.51, 5.95) 0.002 0% 3.15 (1.00, 9.91) 0.05 61% 1.08 (0.57, 2.04) 0.81 78% 2.92 (1.51, 5.65) 0.001 0% 6409 Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(4):6406-6411
shown that c.1471g>a genetic polymorphism in XRCC1 gene were associated with a risk of lung cancer [14]. A meta-analysis which included 14494 subjects with suggested that EPHX1 A139G polymorphism was associated with lung cancer risk [15]. Ma et al. constructed a plasmid encoding VEGF shrna to knock down VEGF both in vitro and in vivo [16]. They demonstrated synergistic antitumor activity of combined VEGF shrna expressing plasmids and low-dose DDP with no overt toxicity, suggesting potential applications of the combined approach in the treatment of lung cancer. Some limitations should be acknowledged when explaining the results. Firstly, only published data which were included by the selected databases were included; it is possible that some relevant published studies or unpublished studies which had null results were missed, which might bias the results, while our statistical tests may not have totally shown it. Secondly, all case-control studies were from Asians and Caucasians; thus, the results may be applicable to these ethnic populations only. Thirdly, data were not stratified by other factors such as gender status, because sufficient information could not be extracted from the original studies. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggested that the VEGF rs699947 is associated with increased risk of lung cancer. More studies with a larger group of populations should be performed to analyze these associations. Disclosure of conflict of interest None. Address correspondence to: Weiguo Zhang, Department of Oncology Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Science and Technology, Jinghua Road No. 24, Jianxi District, Luoyang 471003, Henan, China. Tel: 86-0379-64830634; E-mail: paulzhang630@sina.com References [1] Siegel R, Ma J, Zou Z, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2014. CA Cancer J Clin 2014; 64: 9-29. [2] Lauro S, Onesti CE, Righini R, Marchetti P. The use of bevacizumab in non-small cell lung cancer: an update. Anticancer Res 2014; 34: 1537-45. [3] Chen F, Cole P, Bina WF. Time trend and geographic patterns of lung adenocarcinoma in the United States, 1973-2002. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007; 16: 2724-9. [4] Bhattacharya R, Sinha S, Yang SP, Patra C, Dutta S, Wang E, Mukhopadhyay D. The neurotransmitter dopamine modulates vascular permeability in the endothelium. J Mol Signal 2008; 28; 3: 14. [5] Guba M, Seeliger H, Kleespies A, Jauch KW, Bruns C. Vascular endothelial growth factor in colorectal cancer. Int J Colorectal Dis 2004; 19: 510-7. [6] de Mello RA, Ferreira M, Soares-Pires F, Costa S, Cunha J, Oliveira P, Hespanhol V, Reis RM. The impact of polymorphic variations in the 5p15, 6p12, 6p21 and 15q25 Loci on the risk and prognosis of portuguese patients with non-small cell lung cancer. PLoS One 2013; 8: e72373. [7] Sun SF, Huang DB, Cao C, Deng ZC. Polymorphism of VEGF-460C/T associated with the risk and clinical characteristics of lung cancer in Chinese population. Med Oncol 2013; 30: 410. [8] Deng ZC, Cao C, Yu YM, Ma HY, Ye M. Vascular endothelial growth factor -634G/C and vascular endothelial growth factor -2578C/A polymorphisms and lung cancer risk: a case-control study and meta-analysis. Tumour Biol 2014; 35: 1805-11. [9] Li Y, Liang J, Liu X, Liu H, Yin B, Xiao J, Bi Z. Correlation of polymorphisms of the vascular endothelial growth factor gene and the risk of lung cancer in an ethnic Han group of North China. Exp Ther Med 2012; 3: 673-6. [10] Liang J, Yu X, Liu X, et al. Vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms and risk of lung cancer. Chinese-German Journal of Clinical Oncology 2009; 8: 269-72. [11] Lee SJ, Lee SY, Jeon HS, Park SH, Jang JS, Lee GY, Son JW, Kim CH, Lee WK, Kam S, Park RW, Park TI, Kang YM, Kim IS, Jung TH, Park JY. Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and risk of primary lung cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005; 14: 571-5. [12] Zhai R, Liu G, Zhou W, Su L, Heist RS, Lynch TJ, Wain JC, Asomaning K, Lin X, Christiani DC. Vascular endothelial growth factor genotypes, haplotypes, gender, and the risk of non-small cell lung cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2008; 14: 612-7. [13] Zhou C, Luo Q, Qing Y, Lin X, Zhan Y, Ouyang M. Association between MPO 463G>A polymorphism and risk of lung cancer: a meta-analysis. Tumour Biol 2013; 34: 3449-55. [14] Wang L, Chen Z, Wang Y, Chang D, Su L, Guo Y, Liu C. The association of c.1471g>a genetic 6410 Int J Clin Exp Med 2015;8(4):6406-6411
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